Chapter Twenty-Five

 

 

Only the strident hiss of lubricated metal speeding along metal saved Ryan Cawdor's life. That, and the combat reflexes he'd developed from living for years in Deathlands.

 

As he stepped through the hole he'd chopped in the side of the root, the rough edges of the fibrous skin-hull plucking and tearing at his clothing, he heard the hiss above and in front of him. His eye hadn't adjusted to the darkness inside the subterranean complex.

 

Instinct found his target for him as he moved into a protective position beside the hole. Doc was squeezing through the hole behind him.

 

Ryan lifted the SIG-Sauer, drawing it smoothly. The shape in front of him was a shadow flitting through the air. As his finger curled around the blaster's trigger, a bright orange flame of gunfire spit from the ovoid shape hanging from the guide rail along the ceiling.

 

He felt the bullet burn along just beside his face. By that time he'd fired four times himself, and the bullets smashed into the sec drone, reducing the guide rail to a hundred broken pieces.

 

Sparks leaped from the remains of the drone, and it jumped its tracks, hanging precariously on the lip.

 

"By the Three Kennedys," Doc said, "it appears the Celtic Prince has a fully functional defensive system."

 

The sec drone still spit and sputtered as surges of electricity pounded through it. Ryan moved forward, listening to the slight sounds of J.B. and Krysty as they eased into the root tunnel behind him. Jak made no sound at all, suddenly appearing at Ryan's elbow. "We share point."

 

The albino nodded.

 

"If you see somebody who looks like they know what's what here," Ryan said, "we need him alive."

 

"Done."

 

Ryan glanced back at the other three companions, used hand signals and put Krysty at the rear. J.B. came next, the first line of defense in case Ryan and Jak had to double back.

 

The two men led the group, working in tandem. The way was only partially lit by glowing fungus pods jutting from the walls around them, bathing everything in a lambent blue light.

 

"Lover," Krysty whispered only loud enough to reach Ryan's ears.

 

He turned, glancing back in her direction, knowing the albino had them covered. He followed the line of her pointing finger and saw the cameras embedded in the root flesh of the ceiling. Two more were visible behind them, sliding quietly along tracked gimbals.

 

It tore away even the illusion that they might be sneaking up on Boldt.

 

"Triple red," Ryan growled. "They'll be expecting company."

 

The corridor turned left, leaving the far corner in the shadows, just beyond the reach of the light cast off by the glowing fungus. Ryan waved Jak on, taking the corner for himself. Already impaired somewhat by the monocular view of things, he took advantage of his peripheral vision, approaching cautiously.

 

A sec man was in hiding there, trying to remain out of sight in the recessed door he stood guard over. The man was obviously reluctant to engage the enemy creeping through the underground fortress, though whether by his own reticence or by order Ryan didn't know.

 

The one-eyed man kept moving, staying loose and ready to move. The other companions kept going, following Jak. When he was sure he was out of the sec man's field of view, Ryan doubled back, quick and quiet.

 

At the edge of the recessed doorway, the SIG-Sauer blaster hard in his hand, Ryan paused, waiting. When the companions passed from the sec man's sight, the guard wasn't able to resist peering out to confirm they'd gone.

 

Ryan brought the blaster around in a tight, fast arc, crunching the butt into the man's forehead. Bone shattered, giving way before the pistol.

 

The man bleated in pain, trying to bring his assault rifle up to defend himself.

 

Blood sprayed over Ryan's hand as he hit the sec man again. He moved up quick, not giving his enemy a chance. There was no doubt that the pain-filled screams had been heard by Ryan's companions or anyone who was on the other side of the door.

 

Ryan went in fast, using his body weight to slam the sec man against the door. He swung the blaster once more, dropping his adversary with a blow to the temple. If the impacts against his forehead hadn't killed him, the sec man would recover.

 

Movement sounded on the other side of the door.

 

Knowing he was expected, Ryan gripped the doorknob, twisted and followed it in. He dropped into a prone position at once, the blaster out before him.

 

Light spilled out of the room, coming from the small fungus positioned overhead, as well as from the monitor screens along one wall. Two men were in the room, scrambling for their weapons as they retreated to the door sliding open at the back wall.

 

Ryan brought up his blaster, firing at once. He put four rounds into the lead man, dropping him in his tracks, then another three into the man behind. Both seemed to be dead.

 

Ryan grabbed a swivel chair in front of one of the monitors lining one wall in the sec station. Whipping his body to use his weight as well as his strength, he threw the chair at the closing doorway at the back of the room, knowing he wouldn't have been able to cover the distance on foot. And even if he had, struggling with the door would have left him an open target for hostile guns on the other side.

 

The chair sailed on target, clanging and ringing against the metal loudly when it slammed into the gap. Steel crunched when the door closed on the chair. A red light went on over the doorway, bleeding out letters that read ErrorDoor Malfunction.

 

The space left in the gap was large enough for a man to slip through if he was careful.

 

Ryan entered the room with the blaster in his hand. "J.B."

 

"Yeah."

 

"You got our retreat."

 

"Count on it."

 

Stooping, Ryan lifted a flashlight from one of the dead men in the room. A small wind gusted from the open doorway, shifting his hair. It was dark beyond, but there was enough light to see that a tunnel continued on.

 

Krysty and Doc went to the sec-monitor station and started looking over the controls. Jak brought up their prisoner and quickly tied his hands behind his back with a length of chewed rawhide.

 

Ryan switched on the flashlight, standing at the edge of the door so he wouldn't be highlighted by the bright yellow beam. A cone of light was cast down the tunnel, sending shadows scurrying. He followed his sweep with the blaster.

 

No one was there.

 

Ryan kept watch over the tunnel. Just because no one was there now didn't mean it would stay that way. "What have you got?" he asked Krysty and Doc.

 

"A satellite system, Ryan," the old man replied. His long fingers played across one of the keyboards in front of him. Scenes altered on the monitors, creating new patterns of light that filled the room. "It operates off a mainframe computer."

 

"Can you find Mildred?"

 

"We're looking, but it appears this system is tied in with outside viewers, as well."

 

"I'm looking for a master list," Krysty said. She was at another keyboard, her brow wrinkled as she studied lines of programming on the monitor in front of her. "This system isn't as simple as the one back in White Sands. And there's a number of lockouts on different areas."

 

"We don't have a lot of time here."

 

"I know, lover. If we can't turn something in the next minute or two, we'll give up."

 

"I'm going to hold you to that." Ryan glanced at the man Jak had dragged in.

 

The albino squatted beside the guy and uncapped a canteen. He poured water over the man's face, sluicing away some of the blood, which was quickly replaced by more gushing from the wounds Ryan had inflicted.

 

The sec man groaned in pain and shock. His eyelids snapped open, and he blinked to clear the water from his vision. He started struggling at once, crying out in fear.

 

Jak leaned in close and shoved one of the leaf-bladed knives under the man's jaw, with almost enough force to break the skin. "Not talk," the albino said in a low voice. His ruby eyes sparked with threat. "Not yell. Not breathe if told you no."

 

The sec man fell silent.

 

Jak held the knife in place a little longer, his gaze never faltering. Almost reluctantly he took the knife away. "Breathe."

 

The man exhaled loudly and noisily, his jugular pulsing madly along his neck. A white spot still showed where the knife blade had been pressed.

 

Ryan walked over and looked down at the guard. "The black woman," he said. "We want to know where she is."

 

"In the lockup," the guard said hoarsely. He had trouble focusing his eyes on Ryan.

 

"How is she?"

 

"Prince Boldt didn't want her hurt."

 

"She's in one piece?"

 

"Yes."

 

"What's she doing there?"

 

"The Prince was talking to her. Wanted her to do something for him. Pepper might know all of it, but I don't. I swear."

 

"Where's the lockup?"

 

"Through that door," the man replied. "You go down, follow it around to your left awhile. Take the second left you come to. Follow that tunnel straight through, and you'll be there."

 

"Men on guard?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"How many?"

 

"Three. Four. I don't know for sure."

 

Ryan nodded and looked at Jak. "Gag him."

 

The albino made the leaf-bladed knife dance along the man's forearm, then removed a strip of cloth from his shirt. Working quickly, Jak gagged the prisoner.

 

J.B. stepped quietly and quickly into the room, pulling the door closed behind him. "Company," he said, resting one hand on the door while holding the shotgun in the other.

 

"More guards?" Ryan asked.

 

The Armorer shook his head. "Soldiers from White Sands. Looks like they were blazing along our backtrail and followed us into the complex through the hole we made. If we get lucky, mebbe they won't see this door the way you did."

 

Ryan took another glance down the opening beyond the jammed doorway. Mildred was waiting somewhere at the other end of it, at least, one of the ends, and perhaps a mat-trans unit that would take them back to Deathlands.

 

"Lover."

 

Ryan looked up at Krysty.

 

The red-haired woman pointed at the monitors in front of Doc. The old man regarded them with his hawkish gaze.

 

"Looks like somebody opened the ball for the rebel Celts," Krysty said.

 

Scanning the monitors, Ryan had to agree. The light-amplifying programs in the outside cameras picked up most of the action. The Prince's seed heralds attacked the ville populace without mercy, slashing at them from horseback with swords, and shooting them down with rifles and pistols. Many of the homes were already ablaze, creating even more confusion in the sudden battlefield.

 

As Ryan watched, though, one of the seed heralds got too close to a tangler bed. Without warning, the plants reached out for rider and horse, snaring them, then dragging them into reach of even more of the deadly vines.

 

Another monitor showed two of the soldiers from White Sands. They skulked down the corridor just outside the sec room, their machine pistols leveled before them.

 

"Lock won't hold them long," J.B. stated, "should they figure on breaking through."

 

Ryan knew it.

 

"Upon my soul," Doc breathed.

 

The camera he'd shifted to showed a spill of vehicles roaring down the steep sides of the bowl-shaped valley. Muzzle-flashes from mounted machine guns were clearly visible.

 

"Gehrig," Ryan said.

 

"It appears he found a way into the ville," Krysty said.

 

Ryan felt a little bad for the people of Wildroot. Trouble was, he figured it was just like anywhere back in Deathlands folks that were smart enough, hard enough and didn't mind killing enough, they'd make it out of the engagementno matter who was gunning for them.

 

"We got directions to Mildred," Ryan said. "We find her, then we'll figure on a way of getting out of here."

 

J.B. slid his glasses up his nose with a finger. "Problem is, a man could get plumb lost inside these roots."

 

Ryan nodded. "We stick together, we'll get lost together. Find ourselves, too."

 

"You're forgetting about the plague, lover."

 

Ryan glanced at Krysty. The red-haired woman felt more compassionate about the greater whole than he did. "I'm not forgetting," he replied. "It just isn't our problem."

 

Krysty's mouth hardened. But she knew better than to argue with him. Mostly. "You remember what Tarragon said, about how it could spread across the water, even to Deathlands."

 

"I remember," Ryan said in a harder voice. "I also know a dead man can't do nothing about it. We fuck around in here too long, we'll be dead sure as bunnies pop little green turds."

 

For a moment Krysty looked like she might argue. Thai she only nodded.

 

Ryan looked away, shining the flashlight back down the tunnel. "That plague's over a hundred years old. Might not even work." But a cold fear knotted up in his belly like lumpy gravy. If the plague did get loose, maybe he was only buying time to get back to Dean. But part of him knew they were all only living on borrowed time in Deathlands.

 

Going after Boldt in this twisted maze of roots was stupid. Nothing else could be said about it.

 

Then a speaker crackled to life. "Who are you people?" an imperious voice demanded.

 

Glancing back over his shoulder, Ryan saw Boldt on the monitor in front of Doc. Ryan had never seen the man close up before, but he remembered enough of him from the earlier battle that he knew whom he was looking at.

 

"You were with the black woman, weren't you?" Boldt sneered at them. "If you're here to try to stop me from loosing the plague and ending this pale shadow of a world, you're coming way too late. You'll only be the first ones to die."

 

"Doc," Ryan said.

 

"He found us when the sec team stationed here didn't check in," the old man said. "I tried to respond, but evidently I did something wrong, Ryan."

 

Abruptly the monitor with Boldt's features scowling at them vanished.

 

"It's okay." Ryan dropped a hand on the old man's shoulder. "We were getting bastard lucky anyway."

 

"If he sets that stuff off while we're inside here," J.B. argued, "could be we'll get infected and take it back with us."

 

Ryan nodded. "Something else I noticed. There was a mat-trans unit behind him. Couldn't hardly see it for the computer equipment."

 

"Saw it, too," Jak said.

 

"That's our way out," Ryan said. "Man's standing on the tracks when the train's coming through." He looked at Doc. "You know where Boldt is?"

 

Doc tapped the keyboard. The monitor in front of him cleared, suddenly shifting to a multilayered map. A bright blue dot was in one of the rooms. "There we are, Ryan."

 

An emerald dot flared to life in the upper right corner.

 

"And there is Prince Boldt."

 

Ryan studied the map, committing the twists and turns to memory. "Jak."

 

"Yeah."

 

"You remember how that guard said to find Mildred."

 

"Yeah."

 

Ryan touched the monitor. "Once you, Doc and J.B. get her, you figure you can find your way here?"

 

"Probably."

 

"I'm going to be counting on it."

 

Jak nodded.

 

"If he's got that place too well defended," Ryan said, "could be we'll come to find you."

 

J.B. rocked back on his heels, pointing the shotgun in the direction of the door. "We're found." Even as he was talking, the door started to shake.

 

"Let's go," Ryan growled. "Getting pinned down here isn't going to do any good. Like as not, Boldt's probably already got sec teams headed in this direction." He turned and led the plunge into the darkness, his headlong pace just short of suicidal. The tunnel inclined, taking them deeper into the mountain.

 

Then, without warning, the monitors in the sec room behind them suddenly exploded, sending out showers of glass to slam against the walls of the room. A heartbeat later the door was ripped from its hinges, followed immediately by the sound of gunfire.

 

Then Ryan took the second left fork ahead of him, pausing only long enough to wave a brief salute to J.B.

 

"See you on the other side of this run," the Armorer said.

 

"Do that," Ryan replied. He turned and raced into the tunnel, Krysty only a half step behind him.